Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-03-11
'ALABAMA'S ELDORADU.
Stores OF Fortunes Mazda Ab ut Bir-
minghnm and Shf I'll ld-Penn-
sylyania yss Alabama.
How a Postal Clerk Turned $500 Into
$500, OOO-The Banks and the Build
ing Associations.

How a Postal Clerk Turned $500 Lotto
$500, OOO-The Banks and the Build
ing Associations.
WASHINGTON, Feb. S.-The Alabama
Congressman are full of the possibilities
Of the pew south. They confidently
expect Alabama to outTival Pennsylvania
as G manufacturing state, and their
stories of the changes which sre going on
about Birmingham are like those Of the
" Arabian Nights Representative
James Taylor Jones, who lives m dWay
between the iron district and Mobile,
visited Birmingham and Sheffield about
thEeetweeks ago. lie tells me that people
are rushing to this district by thousands
from al states of the Union and that for
tunes are being made in day. The hotels
at Birmingham are crowded, and many
have been driven away because they could
not find accommodations for themselves
and families. "Why,n said he, sin the
Birmingham hotels you will see the Offices
flied al night with men sleeping in Chairs,
and they psy for their accommodations,
too. Birmingham has increased to seven
times its original size within six years. Ia
1880 it had but 1000, aud it has nJW
population of 80 900. /. has eleven large
furnaces in full blast, and thirteen more
which will be built this year. It has
manufacturing works of all kinds,
and new factories are rushing
there as fast es they can be
accommodated. The big Albany stove
works lately moved there with all the
plant, and the Baxter stove works of
Louisville, largest establishment Of its
kind in the southwest, is now at Birm-
ingham. Then there are pipe works, en-
glnc works and machine works for the
making of cotton gins. They have
chain foundry at Albany, which makes
chains OF all kinds, from those large
enough to hold the Great Eastern to
those small enough for poodle dogs
cham. There are three Natioral banks
now in Birmingham, and they are run
ming over with deposits. The First Ma
tional bank has $1,000 of capital, and
It's deposits will amount to 81, 5O0,G COO
The Alabama National back has lately In
creased its capital from $500 900 to $780,
600, and it has vast deposits. 1t is the
same with the other national hanks, and
there is another bank Which:I know of
which began last fall with 500 600 cap
ital ana by December had 500, 000 Of de
posits. Money is coming in from all
over the Union. 1t comes in lots Of all
sizes, with the general Instructions 10 put
it where it will do the most good"
GLOW about the rates Of interest -
"The rates If interest ale low. The
legal rate OF the STATE is per cent, but
you can ret all you want on good security
a. s, ana there Is no lack of funds. The
investments are not, however, limited to
northerners \ great deal of southern
capital is being used, ana the speculation
fever nGs CAPTURED the state OF Alabama.
People are rushing from ali parts Of the
state to Birmingham and Sheffield, sud
the boom at these points is rapidly eX
tending 10 others over the state"
"The examples Of fortunes made are
numerous. | have yet to hear of a single
man who has lost money by investing IT.
can give number of instances of men
of my own acquaintance who have made
fortunes. | know postal clerk who
went to Birmingham about five months
ago with $500. He is now worth $780,,
900, and he is director in some large
corporations. A country doctor who
lived in my district hsd very hard time
to get along. He was in debt Sll00. He
borrowed $1,000 from loan association,
and after paying off this debt took the
extra 5000 and with few cattle which
he owned drove to near Birmingham.
This was several years ego. He bought
with his 5000 2O0-acre farm of marsh
land, intending to turn it into
q dairy farm. He had owned it only two
years when the railroad companies wanted
site for machine shop, and gave him
$40, 900 for oue-third OF it. Another &C
quaintance Of mine, & wOoden-legged
man named Randolph, son Il Captain
Randolph Of the navy, had no money, and
his sole possessions when he went to
Biru ngham were $500. That was year
VI two a..o. IL pat his $500 into Biz
min ham Inc d, ard he lately sold it out
for si65,"a3
at is won .cl,u. bow high the prices OF
lots arc IN Birmingham. They sell
almost as high a. III Washingt n, and
the prices keep on Jisivg. | Jaw land
sell fyr $1,000 L fr.ug foot, and d num-
her q improved lois sell for $780,
OG0 q lot. The buildings winch are going
up are Of the finest kind, sEd there will
De an immense building boom in the
spring They hsve formed building as
sociatioas, not for the loaning Of money
to build, but merely for the putting up Of
buildings to sell. These associations
will in an incredibly short space Of time
BALD you anything you want, from @
house which costs $500 TO one that costs
$500, goo. They are making great prepa-
rations Tor the spring, and as soon as the
mild weather cOmes whole squares or
blocks of houses will go up almost as
fast as Aladdin's palace, which was built
in q night.
"Teil me something of the wonderful
I resources of this region"
Its resources are coal and iron in
practically ineXhaustible quantities, To-
Gated nesr together and near to great
fields of limestone, SO that the materials
for making iron and steel are close to
each other. Standing OF The stoop of the
Birmingham hotel, three-quarters of
mile away from you on one nand you may
see a mountain of the finest iron. Turn
your eyes in another direction, and be-
fore you, st no greater distance from you
than the iron, are fields of coal which
are fitted for the production of iron
and which contain enough coal to
make two-thirds and more Of the